WBEZ | Rahm Emanuel

Adventures in urban gardening

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:00 -0500

Rahm Emanuel may not be everyone's favorite mayor in regards to improving our city, but his new plan to transform vacant lots on Chicago's South Side into thriving and profitable urban farms in just three years is definitely a step in the right direction.

Farmers for Chicago will make up to five acres of city-owned lots available to local non-profits, who will in turn cultivate the land and create a network of area farmers to help relieve food desert-related issues.

Green-thumbed Chicagoans will also get the chance to build their own enterprises, as food from these farms will be distributed to more than a dozen local farmers markets, corner stores, restaurants and grocery chains.

The city hails this program as one of the first of its kind, but the idea of urban farming is nothing new. Community gardens have thrived in Chicago since the 1940s, and have experienced a newfound popularity in recent years thanks to the efforts of organizations like the Chicago Park District. And with city garden co-ops popping up in almost every neighborhood this summer (including the now nine-year-old Chicago Honey Co-Op, which offers chemical-free honey and beekeeping classes in addition to partnering with community gardens city-wide), helping hands are always welcome.

Other awesome resources for potential volunteers include:

Chicago Botanic Garden- a science conservation center of over 50,000 members
Garfield Park Conservatory- one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the nation
GreenNet Chicago- a coalition of nonprofits committed to green and sustainable open spaces
The Chicago Farmers- a public forum for community farmers since 1935
NeighborSpace- Chicago's only nonprofit land trust dedicated to the protection of city gardens
Chicago Gardeners- a network of links to Chicago's best garden bloggers
The Local Beet- an online hub for Chicagoans looking to eat local

Interested in growing your own food and flowers at home? Here's a few tips to get started:

Shop local

Visit your neighborhood nursery or farmers market for an assortment of gardening delights that won't break the bank. Home Depot may have lower prices on tools, soil and fertilizer; but for plants (especially herbs and flowers) locally-grown is the way to go. You can also buy seeds and food-producing plants at most local stores through the Illinois Link Card system. Another way to save money when gardening is by making your own compost. Instead of throwing away apple cores, eggshells and coffee grounds, store them in a sun-lit container and then mash them into soil for a nutrient-rich plant base on a budget.

Grow up

Don't have a lot of space? Get creative with plants that grow up instead of out. With a little pruning, vines like peas, beans and squashes can climb up a trellis or a pole, which can be leaned against the side of a sunny window if you don't have a balcony, porch or patio. Also, look for companion pairs that grow well together to control the insect balance in your garden and maximize cultivation in a tiny space. Alfalfa sprouts, lentils and garbanzo beans can thrive in small containers, while hanging pots for stemmy vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers can double as beautifully cascading décor.

Stick with the sustainable

Consult the 2013 Farmer's Almanac for a list of Chicago-specific planting dates for certain edible crops. Heirloom tomatoes are a great starter plant, as they are relatively easy to grow and taste delicious straight off the vine. Fresh herbs like basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano are great for windowsills, since they require minimal maintenance and can flourish year-round indoors. Also, look for plants that don't need a lot of sunlight (think fall and winter produce like lettuce, peas, spinach, kale, carrots and potatoes) so that you can continue to grow your garden even after the few precious months of Chicago summer have come and gone.

Leah Pickett writes about popular culture for WBEZ. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr.

Chicago to renovate Navy Pier, build arena

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:00 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a multi-million dollar renovation plan Thursday that includes remodeling Navy Pier and building a 10,000-seat basketball arena near McCormick Place that would be the home court of DePaul University's basketball teams.

In a news release on Thursday, Emanuel's office said the first phase of a $278 million project to renovate Navy Pier will begin in the fall and will cost about $166 million. The city will put up $110 of that and private restaurants and the Chicago Children's Museum will put up the rest.

The arena built near McCormick Place also will be used as a hall for conventions and trade shows. McCormick Place and DePaul will each put up $70 million to design and build the arena.

Construction on the arena is targeted to begin in 2014, and officials hope to have it ready in time for the 2016-17 season. The facility likely will be able to host 17 men's basketball and 10 women's games.

The arena could be a boon for a once-proud men's program that has struggled in recent years.

The Blue Demons are coming off their sixth straight losing season and haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2004. They are 30-64 and just 6-48 in Big East play in three years under Oliver Purnell.

But there was a time back when Ray Meyer was the coach and Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings were electrifying fans that the Blue Demans were the most popular basketball team in the city. That also was before Michael Jordan landed with the Bulls.

The DePaul men's team has played most of its games at Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill., since 1980, making it difficult for students and fans living and working in the city to attend. The small crowds and older arena probably weren't an easy sell for recruits, either.

Many fans were hoping DePaul would build an arena on or near its main campus in the vibrant Lincoln Park neighborhood, but finding landing in a densely populated area was no small task. The school reportedly turned down an offer from Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to play at the United Center.

The new arena at McCormick Place would be near several major highways and be reachable by train from DePaul's campuses in the city.

South Red Line closures just around the corner

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:04:00 -0500

The South branch of the Red Line closes Sunday for five months while it undergoes renovation. Chicago Transit Authority officials say nine stops, also known as the Dan Ryan branch, are in desperate need of repair. The CTA will provide a few backup solutions for the more than 80,000 people who ride each weekday. Other groups like PACE, Metra - even the White Sox franchise - are also lending a hand.

Starting Sunday, service will be shut down between 95th/Dan Ryan and Cermak-Chinatown. According to CTA spokesman Brian Steele, construction crews will rip everything up -- like ties, rails and ballasts - and rebuild the tracks and all but one of the train stations. Steele says the 95th/Dan Ryan stop is scheduled to receive a separate facelift beginning in the first half of 2014.

“Remember that the Red Line South opened in September of 1969, just two months after Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon,” Steele said. “It’s seen, literally, millions of train trips in that time, and has really served the CTA well.

Steele says the Red Line has been patched and fixed over the years, but it’s to the point where the only way to ensure effective operation of the line is to completely rebuild it.

That’s going to take some time - five months, to be exact. Steele says they looked at other options, like closing down only on the weekends, for example, but he says the five-month plan was the most efficient and cost-effective way to complete the project. Steele says once completed, the trackwork will provide faster and more reliable service.

To ease riders’ headaches, the CTA will provide a number of backup options. The CTA website has been upgraded with a trip planner that calculates rerouted directions for commuters. CTA is also offering express buses from four of the closed Red Line stations (95th/Dan Ryan, 87th, 79th and 69th) that will go directly to the Green Line Garfield station. Steele said Green Line service and local bus routes will also provide additional service during peak times.

For riders who think Metra or Pace might be the best option, the three transit agencies are offering a joint fare pass. Riders can buy the cards at stores like CVS or Walgreens. They provide five days of unlimited rides on CTA/Pace and 10 rides on the Metra. The cost of the pass depends on which Metra zone the rider travels to and from.

According to Metra spokesman Michael Gillis, the agency isn’t expecting an influx of riders during the Red Line closures, but says there will certainly be a “settling-in period” as riders figure out which new route works best.

Even the White Sox are chipping in to help potentially disgruntled commuters, as the Sox/35th stop is one of the stops getting a makeover. The team is offering fans discounts on some tickets to the May 20th, 21st and 22nd games against the Boston Red Sox.

Lauren Chooljian is WBEZ’s Morning Producer/Reporter. Follow her @laurenchooljian

Emanuel says he'll seek 2nd term as Chicago mayor

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:00:00 -0500

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans on seeking re-election in 2015 and says he's not seeking higher office.

The former White House chief of staff told the Chicago Sun-Times he'd support a presidential run of either Vice President Joe Biden or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but he's not going anywhere. Emanuel took office in 2011 and says if he wins a second term he'll serve it out.

Emanuel says one of the frustrations has been changing Chicago's culture to one of accountability.

He acknowledged the political risk of his plan to close 54 city schools. He says there's also a risk of reputation for Chicago's schools if things don't improve.

Emanuel says he plans to keep on both leaders of the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools.

Mayor, Illinois lawmakers make case for Chicago casino

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:38:00 -0500

Visitors to the nation's third-largest city are usually spotted wandering the Magnificent Mile, snapping pictures of the Willis Tower and sampling Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but if some persistent Illinois lawmakers and Mayor Rahm Emanuel get their way, a glitzy casino would be on their agenda, too.

Trying to land a Chicago casino has become an annual sticking point, despite political gusto from mayors and legislators who want to expand gambling in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn has axed two gambling bills and invoked images of infiltrating "mobsters." Along that same theme, the head of the Illinois Gaming Board said the pending plan is inherently problematic because of the way a Chicago casino will be managed.

Still, the latest bill — which recently cleared the Illinois Senate and also would allow slot machines located in lounges at O'Hare and Midway — appears to have the best chance yet.

Quinn has softened his stance as Illinois faces mountainous money problems. Meanwhile, Emanuel is pushing hard for the proposal, lawmakers are eager to rework it and business leaders would love the chance to plant a casino in Chicago — the largest American city to date — with thousands of noisy slots, an entertainment venue and a continuous flow of money-spending tourists.

"It's not just another riverboat casino, it has the potential to be a destination in its own right," said Jack Johnson, head of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau. "Anytime you can add another destination to Chicago, it's one more reason to come."

The bill calls for five new Illinois casinos, including one in Chicago, and airport slots. If airports want them, Chicago would be unique among U.S. airports outside Las Vegas. The plan would establish a Chicago Casino Development Authority, a board of mayoral appointees. The Illinois Gaming Board would have regulatory oversight, but most everything else, including contracts and day-to-day operations, falls to the city board.

And there's the potential rub.

Some experts raised concerns at the Chicago setup when compared with urban casinos — in Philadelphia, Detroit and New Orleans — where the state board oversees everything.

"That is a rare situation," said Doug Walker, an economics professor at the College of Charleston. "Anytime you have a new group of regulators, there's another potential area for corruption."

That very issue prompted state gaming board head Aaron Jaffe to question why Chicago needed its own board and resulted in a spat with lawmakers during a hearing on the bill last month. That followed similar questions from Quinn, who vetoed gambling bills over lack of ethical standards. It's a theme he often brings up in a state where four of the last seven governors have gone to prison, including his predecessor Rod Blagojevich.

Even opponents who typically raise concerns about potential social costs — including increases in problem gambling — are also talking about ethical concerns. Partly that's because it's not hard to find corruption headlines in a city that's been under a court order to root out political patronage or where federal data shows more than 1,500 public corruption convictions since the mid-1970s.

"They've had scandals ... all kinds of scandals," said Anita Bedell, head of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems. "You think it's going to be different now?"

Lawmakers acknowledged some of those concerns in the proposal, adding a ban on political contributions from the industry, an inspector general and, most recently, stating explicitly that the state board has final say over all regulation.

But the Chicago board remains in place.

"They're like the business manager," explained Democratic Sen. Terry Link, a bill sponsor. He says it's not unlike other Chicago entities. The state created the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns McCormick Place, a convention center. Both the mayor and governor appoint members.

Emanuel, who said he supports Quinn's ethical oversight concerns, also defended a city board, saying it's needed to protect Chicago taxpayers' interests.

The mayor boosted his support for the casino this week by pledging 100 percent of revenue will go to schools. The move comes as he proceeds with a controversial plan to close 54 schools and follows last year's teachers strike.

Quinn has said he'd support more gambling if it helps Illinois, including nearly $100 billion in unfunded pension debt, the worst nationwide. The plan is expected to bring in roughly $1.2 billion in one-time revenue and about $270 million annually. But Quinn has been noncommittal on whether he'd sign the bill if House lawmakers approve it. He's also reticent on specifics, like what he thinks of the Chicago board.

Meanwhile, urban planners and tourism officials hope a Chicago casino boosts business. No specifics on a location have been publicly discussed, but some potential sites have been mentioned.

Urban planner Kim Goluska, who for nearly two decades did casino research for former Mayor Richard Daley, said possible sites include the glass-paneled James R. Thompson Center downtown, a state building with an enormous atrium; the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue; and Chicago's former main post office, a dingy building straddling a freeway.

Others include a former hospital site on the South Side and McCormick.

Johnson said that any site could work, depending on transportation. He pointed to the success of Wrigley Field and the Steppenwolf Theatre as tourists destinations, which aren't downtown.

Goluska said any casino should be incorporated into the city's urban core to buttress other businesses. His top pick would be the Thompson Center, which is walking distance to Chicago's Theater District, shopping and hotels.

"The spinoff benefit of doing this right should make the gaming revenue pale by comparison," said Goluska, president of Chicago Consultants Studio, Inc. "It's important that this is done right."

Emanuel backtracks on hiking water costs for nonprofits

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:44:00 -0500

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is backtracking on his plan to offer free water to nonprofits in Chicago. The mayor's office released a proposal Sunday night that would give free water to organizations that have less than $1 million in net assets.

For decades, nonprofit organizations like churches didn't have to pay for water, as it was provided by the city. But in 2011, Emanuel said the city would phase out that service as part of his budget-balancing plan. The City Council then passed the mayor's budget unanimously.

Now, the mayor's office is proposing free water for nonprofits with net assets less than $1 million dollars, and discounted water for nonprofits with net assets between $1 to $250 million. Groups that have over $250 million in assets would not be eligible for the exemption.

Which leaves Jimmy Lago, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, asking: How does the city define net assets?

"My understanding of net assets includes land, property, church buildings and most of our churches have to be insured at their replacement value," Lago said. "I don’t know of any one of our institutions that has a water meter whether they’re social service agency, or a parish hall that has services out of that - gang interruption services - would even receive the exemption."

Alderman Howard Brookins (21) was one of the architects of the mayor's proposal. He told WBEZ that the measure was "still a work in progress."

"I think this is a counter offer," Brookins said. "I think that details will be worked out in committee, but this is a good change in policy for the Emanuel administration."

Brookins said the measure could be taken up by the budget committee as soon as next week.

CHA reveals next phase of massive public housing redevelopment

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:50:00 -0500

In 1994, Chicago public housing high rises failed federal government standards. The massive cinder block buildings had become as recognizable as the city’s skyline. They were also viewed as a symbol of failed housing policies that resulted in concentrated black poverty. Critics said the notorious high rises warehoused blacks in destitute conditions; residents decried a lack of investment in their apartments and communities.

Five years later Mayor Richard M. Daley went to Washington, D.C. and got permission to demolish the high rises, most of them erected when his father Richard J. Daley was mayor. Thus, the country’s largest public housing redevelopment program – christened the Plan for Transformation – was born. Its centerpiece was a plan to build mixed-income housing on the same footprint as the old high rises with the following formula for attracting residents: one-third market rate, one-third affordable and one-third public.

The controversial $1 billion-plus plan is scheduled to wrap up in 2015. Under the plan, which is 85 percent complete, 25,000 units will be developed or revitalized. CHA has already moved almost 16,000 family households from derelict buildings. Some public housing families moved into brand new units with higher-income earning neighbors. Others were lost in the system or moved into segregated, high-poverty neighborhoods. An economic downturn and housing crash eventually forced the Chicago Housing Authority to change course.

Now CHA is unveiling “Plan Forward,” the second phase of the original plan. It focuses on acquiring homes in neighborhoods across the city for rehab, boosting economic activity around CHA sites and providing job/educational training for people with subsidized housing vouchers in the city.

“All residents of public housing had been walled off from the rest of the city both by physical, cultural – not just geographic – but services [such as separate security and garbage collection],” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel of the CHA conditions pre-Plan for Transformation. “Now we’ve even got to take the next step further.”

The mayor spoke Saturday at Legends South, on 44th and State Street, a mixed-income development that replaced the Robert Taylor Homes – formerly the world’s largest public housing development. Emanuel served as vice chair of the CHA board in the 1990s when the original plan was in formation.

Multiple tracts of vacant land sit idle on the State Street corridor as development has stalled. One of the new plan’s goals is to tailor the mix of what’s considered mixed income. Another goal is to use CHA-owned land for non-housing development.

CHA CEO Charles Woodyard said various city agencies in the next few weeks will start approaching the vacant land as an asset.

“It’s more than housing. Housing was the foundation. We will work with the private sector and public sector to see if can have job-creating retail. If we can have retail that provides a needed service for our families. We’re going to make sure that the investment that the public makes doesn’t wither and die on the vine because we haven’t completed the community,” Woodyard said.

Thousands of CHA families rent in the private market with subsidized housing vouchers. A recent Urban Institute report praised the inroads CHA has made with resident services but said children have still suffered. New CHA strategies include improved early childhood education, connecting teens to extra-curricular activities and new youth programs for up to 5,000 kids.

One of the problems with the existing voucher program is that many poor families live in distressed neighborhoods such as Englewood or Austin where there’s high crime and few amenities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t provide enough money for people to live in less segregated, more affluent areas.

To counter that, Woodyard says CHA will acquire and rehabilitate homes and apartments in a variety of neighborhoods.

“One of the things we’re really trying to achieve is to integrate affordable housing into the larger community that is Chicago,” Woodyard said. “It means not just sticking to the South Side. The South Side and the West Side have a fair amount of affordable housing. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure families have opportunities in neighborhoods that give them opportunities.

“One thing we have to understand is our families are used to support systems and familiarity. So some of them may prefer to live on the South Side.” But Woodyard said CHA will give them incentives.

Other highlights from the new plan include an adult literacy pilot program and a recalibrated federal jobs program.

Resident activist Carol Steele runs the Coalition to Protect Public Housing out of Cabrini-Green. She said she’s still concerned about poor residents who lived in CHA back when the plan started in 1999.

“There’s not even enough housing for the people that have the right to return. That’s what I’m looking forward to hearing about,” Steele said. “When are we going to complete these 25,000 replacement units for the residents that are out there waiting to return to their communities?”

Natalie Moore is a WBEZ reporter. Follow her @natalieymoore.

City, Cubs push $500 million Wrigley renovation

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:09:00 -0500

The Chicago Cubs and the city have agreed on details of a $500 million facelift for Wrigley Field, including an electronic video screen that is nearly three times as large as the one currently atop the centerfield bleachers of the 99-year-old ballpark.

Under terms of the agreement, the Cubs would also be able to increase the number of night games at Wrigley Field from 30 to 40 — or nearly half the games played there each season. They would give Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts the ability to renovate the second-oldest park in the major leagues, boost business and perhaps make baseball's most infamous losers competitive again.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel hailed what the two sides called a "framework" agreement in a joint statement issued Sunday night, noting that it includes no taxpayer funding. That had been one of the original requests of the Ricketts family in a long-running renovation dispute that at times involved everything from cranky ballpark neighbors to ward politics and even the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama.

"This framework allows the Cubs to restore the Friendly Confines (of Wrigley) and pursue their economic goals, while respecting the rights and quality of life of its neighbors," Emanuel said.

Still uncertain was how the agreement will sit with owners of nearby buildings who provide rooftop views of the ball games under an agreement with the Cubs that goes back years. They have threatened to sue if the renovations obstruct their view, which they claim would drive them out of business.

On Monday, a spokesman for the rooftop owners said the group would have a statement later, but in the meantime referred the AP to the group's statement released earlier this month that says: "Any construction that interrupts the rooftop views will effectually drive them out of business and be challenged in a court of law."

The Cubs said the video screen they are proposing to build is 6,000 square feet, and would be built with "minimal impact on rooftops with whom (the) Cubs have an agreement." The current centerfield scoreboard is slightly more than 2,000 square feet; the Cubs also have plans to add a left-field sign of 1,000 square feet.

"Rooftop views are largely preserved," the team said in its announcement. "The Cubs have agreed to install only two signs in the outfield — a videoboard in left field and a sign in right field. This is far less than our original desire for seven signs to help offset the cost of ballpark restoration."

The signs offer the team a chance to reach new advertising deals and pay for the overhaul, even if it might change the character of the historic park. The city and club said they hope the agreement would allow the Cubs to obtain necessary city approvals for the work by the end of the current season.

The Ricketts family, which bought the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million, initially sought tax funding for renovation plans. With that out in the new agreement, the owners will seek to open new revenue streams outside the stadium. Under the agreement, the Ricketts family would be allowed to build a 175-room hotel, a plaza, and an office building with retail space and a health club, and provide 1,000 "remote" parking spots that will be free and come with shuttle service.

"We are anxious to work with our community as we seek the approvals required to move the project forward," Ricketts said in the statement.

The site of Babe Ruth's "called shot" home run in the 1932 World Series and more heartbreak than Cubs fans would like to remember, Wrigley Field is younger only than Boston's Fenway Park in the majors. It has long been a treasured showplace for baseball purists — night games were only added in 1988 — but team officials for years have desperately wanted a true upgrade, saying it costs as much as $15 million a year just to keep up with basic repairs.

The ballpark has also played no small part in the lore of the team, as fans were reminded April 10 when someone delivered a goat's head in a box addressed to Ricketts. Neither the team nor the Chicago Police Department have talked about a possible motive for the strange delivery, but as every fan knows it was in the 1945 World Series when a tavern owner arrived at the park with his pet goat — which had a ticket.

According to legend, the owner was told the goat smelled and was denied entry. The angry tavern owner then put the "Curse of the Billy Goat" on the Cubs — and the team has not been back to the World Series since. The last World Series championship for the Cubs came in 1908 — six years before Wrigley was built.

After failing to reach an agreement when Mayor Richard Daley was in office, the Ricketts family kept talking after Emanuel took office in 2011. But even presidential politics presented an obstacle for the plans at one point.

During the 2012 election, the patriarch of the Ricketts family, which created the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm, was considering a $10 million campaign against Obama that would refer to the racially incendiary sermons delivered by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a Chicago church the president once attended. J. Joseph Ricketts dropped the proposal, but the episode brought a huge dose of unwanted bad press and angered Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff.

In recent weeks, fans also had to deal with the unlikely specter of the Cubs leaving Chicago. With the talks bogged down, the mayor of nearby Rosemont piped up, saying the village located near O'Hare International Airport would be willing to let the Cubs have 25 acres free of charge to build a replica of Wrigley Field.

First Lady to urge Chicago business leaders to invest in youth

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:28:00 -0500

In a passionate plea to the private sector, First Lady Michelle Obama returned to her hometown Wednesday to help raise money for anti-violence youth programs.

At a downtown Chicago luncheon with 800 civic and business leaders, Obama urged them to contribute to a $50 million public safety campaign led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The First Lady grew up in South Shore and said the issue of violence is “personal.” She recounted her working-class family roots and how recent gun murders have touched her emotionally.

Obama recalled meeting with the friends and parents of Hadiya Pendleton - the King College Prep High School student killed days after performing at the presidential inauguration and a mile away from Obama’s Kenwood home.

“As I visited with the Pendleton family at Hadiya’s funeral, I couldn’t get over how familiar they felt to me.

Because what I realized was Hadiya’s family was just like my family. Hadiya Pendleton was me and I was her,” said Obama as her voice cracked. “But I got to grow up.”

Well-heeled members of The Commercial Club of Chicago, Economic Club of Chicago, The Executives’ Club of Chicago and World Business Chicago attended the luncheon. So far, $33 million has been raised. The money is supposed to go to at-risk youth programs, community building strategies and an innovation fund for new programs. All this would be administered over a five-year period by The Chicago Community Trust.

“What it takes to build strong, successful young people isn’t genetics, pedigree or good luck, it’s opportunity and I know from my own experience, I started out with exactly the same aptitude, exactly the same intellectual, emotional capabilities as so many of my peers,” Obama said. She added that the business community has a moral obligation to help local youth.

“This is going to take a serious and sustained investment over a very long period of time,” Obama said. “This is forever.”

After her speech, Obama visited a high school in Englewood, a neighborhood marred by gunplay and poverty. Harper High School was the subject of an earlier documentary by WBEZ's “This American Life.” Twenty-nine current and former Harper students were shot last year.

Obama told students the best thing they could do in life "is really be serious about education."

The mayor said if the city can rally around NATO, the Olympics bid, Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park, it can rally around children.

When Emanuel announced the $50 million fundraising goal earlier this year, he put Allstate Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson and Loop Capital Chief Executive Officer James Reynolds in charge.

“I can honestly say I have never been more excited about any effort or initiative I’ve been a part of. The lives we save, the lives we change will ultimately be the test of how well this community responds to its moral duty,” said Reynolds, an Englewood native.

T.J. Crawford is project coordinator for the Black Youth Project and said the mayor’s $50 million initiative needs to address systemic issues.

“[It] will be beneficial only if they do something outside of the box that I haven’t seen him do before: Work directly with community organizations and individuals that have real relationship to our community’s youth and sometimes violent perpetrators to enhance their capacity and support mechanisms to do the work that they have already dedicated their lives to doing,” Crawford said. “It seems we fall in the trap of being able to properly report, quantify and qualify how dollars are being spent without investing in the human capital that is needed to actually create the change we seek. “

Natalie Moore is a WBEZ reporter. Follow her @natalieymoore.

A White House Pool report contributed to this story.

Waiting for Westboro

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:00:00 -0500

I wasn’t initially planning on going to Roger Ebert’s funeral. Like many Chicagoans, I mourned his death and memorialized him in private, sharing my sorrows about his loss amongst friends who counted themselves fellow “Ebert superfans.” My colleague, Leah Pickett, broke the news to me and at first, I was upset with her for suggesting it was even possible. Ebert couldn't die. However, the Chicago Sun-Times confirmed her story. Just as quickly as we had to process the news of his semi-retirement, there was this. Ebert was gone, like someone switching off a light.

I’ve never cried over a celebrity death before, but I burst into hysterical sobs at the news. I rarely cry, and when I do, it looks more like epilepsy than tears, a flurry of gasps and spasms. Instead of crying, I’m known to slowly leak, like a faucet silently pouring water down a drain. On Thursday, I flooded with emotion, rushing out from every pore. I felt like even my hands were crying.

But when details of his funeral broke, I felt like I had no place there. Who was I to go to his memorial? Why was his death my business? Despite the impact he had on my life, I couldn’t look into the face of Chaz Ebert and tell her that the love of her life meant as much to me as he did to her. I couldn’t even begin to compare our sorrow.

However, DNAInfo reported Sunday night that the Westboro Baptist Church planned on picketing Roger Ebert’s funeral as retribution for Ebert’s long-standing criticism of them. Ebert, a noted humanist and former Catholic, referred to the institution as “odious” and testified his ideological disagreement with them by linking to articles critical of WBC in his many tweets. (The man loved to tweet.)

Calling the beloved critic a “f*g enabler,” Westboro promised to show up at 9:15 a.m. as attendees filed in for the 10 o'clock service. The hate group said in a (totally sane sounding) press release:

"This fool sold his soul for some fame & fortune, forgetting that God has made a simple declaration regarding His people: 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.' (Psalms 105:15). Now the famed critic is in a new jurisdiction, where he can see the blessings poured out on God’s humble servants in heaven, from his seat of eternal torment & sorrow in Hell!"

For anyone familiar with WBC, you know this trolling, childish behavior is par for the course. This is what they do. Westboro commonly protests military funerals to punish our dead soldiers for society's sins and mocks the dead to generate publicity. When opponents of the group show up to counterprotest, the group uses this as a way to mobilize the right-wing, presenting themselves as marginalized warriors of God in an America that’s leaving them behind.

Westboro wants to make you angry. It wants you to scream back at it and stoop to its level. It wants to use hate to spread hate.

I knew that going to counterprotest Westboro wouldn’t solve anything, but I needed to be there to defend Ebert's honor. For all of the times that he championed the little guy and worked as an agent of change and social justice, I needed to stand up for him. I needed to be there. I couldn’t be silent.

I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and arrived at State Street’s Holy Name Cathedral early, expecting that Westboro would already be busy setting up. I pictured vans full of identically dressed women with long hair and skirts of modest length and balding, white-haired men with thick glasses, black ties and megaphones. I pictured people who wore hatred like it was a second skin, one they could peel off when the cameras were gone and the crowds parted.

However, I found no one, except for the funeral goers patiently waiting for their opportunity to honor a friend, loved one or stranger. During the funeral, multiple speakers testified that Ebert was a “man of the people” and a critic who represented America, and the service attracted all types: kids coming as funeral tourists, snapping pictures and commenting on how “cool” it was; colleagues like Michael Phillips, Rick Kogan and Richard Roeper; politicians and local celebrities; and character actors whose faces you couldn’t place, the inestimable litany of those his legacy touched.

Even Rahm was there, back from his time vortex.

While I waited for Westboro, I stood with a budding film critic who grew up in Missouri and was glad Ebert’s last review didn’t end up being of The Host, Andrew Niccol’s critically reviled Stephenie Meyer adaptation. His take on To the Wonder, the divisive new Terrence Malick film, was published the morning of his funeral, as a tribute and testament to his own curiosity and imagination. Malick was one of Ebert’s favorite filmmakers and a cinematic poet Roger Ebert had a lot in common with: They came from the same generation, while sharing the same mystical awe of cinema’s power.

As I talked with these people, I found that they were all looking for something: A woman from Los Alimos, Cal., came all the way to hand out pamphlets and inquire about the state of Ebert’s soul. Her name was Tina.

“Was Ebert Catholic?” Tina asked me. I confessed that I did not know. Tina asked about the state of my soul. I confessed that I did not know about that, either. Like Ebert, I was raised Catholic, but as an adult, I’d given myself the space to doubt and explore other traditions that weren’t the one I grew up in. I related the solace I’ve found in Buddhist meditation and Hindu scripture. I keep a copy of the Bhagavad Gita on my desk. I quoted Joseph Campbell: “If you only know one religion, you know none."

Tina smiled and told me that if I ever wanted to come back, the church was waiting. She handed me a card with St. Maria Faustina’s face on it and told me to pray — for my own salvation and for Ebert’s. “You have a beautiful soul,” Tina said, as if she didn’t expect it to stay beautiful. I wanted to ask her what she thought Ebert's soul looked like, but Tina moved on. She had more trading cards to hand out.

The budding film critic looked at me and laughed. “It takes all kinds,” he offered, as a condolence for our conversation. Then, I remembered the way Tina thanked me for talking to her and giving her the time of day, when most people just ignored her. She seemed to need me as much as she thought I needed her. When Tina approached me, she told me that they wouldn't let her stand with anyone else. I looked at the critic, frowned and put my hands in my pockets, just as it started to rain again.

I began to wonder if I needed Westboro as much as they needed me. I wondered if any of us would find what we were looking for — or even if it was to be found amongst Ebert's ashes.

Suddenly, the crowd began to file in. I looked back at the line behind me and out to the sea of reporters setting up to shoot, collecting mourners’ stories on pads of paper. One of the men standing ahead of me in line went back three times to the same AP journalist, because he kept finding more to say. When we would call her up to him, she smiled, “Got another story for me?”

I failed to spot our friendly protesters, so I was faced with a choice: I could stand outside with the critics of Ebert’s soul and the revelers of his eternal torment. I could wallow in the world’s hate and look into its worst face. Or I could join the people who came to be a testament to love, the folks who couldn’t stop remembering Ebert and the ones who refused to be deterred by rain or the gusts of the Chicago morning. I could turn this dark day into an opportunity for hope and transformation, fighting to keep his work and his memory alive.

I wasn’t dressed for a funeral. I came in my plainclothes, my well-worn black jeans, Cubs hat and striped hoodie, backpack slung over one shoulder. But it didn't matter what I was wearing. I was there.

I went inside and stood between two women, one of whom sported dark velour pants and leopard-print sunglasses; she constantly smiled at me to show how fine she was. The other one came from Glenview and talked about Ebert as if he were a friend. Her name was Kathy. She called him “Roger,” just like everyone else did.

Kathy loved "Roger" so much that she had a portrait of Ebert painted in her house, along with pictures of Peter Sellers and other icons she grew up with. In the picture, Ebert sat on a balcony with Oprah, taking notes and enjoying the view. She hung the illustration in her entertainment room, so she could watch movies along with Ebert; they could enjoy the view together. Kathy told me that she got to show it to him once, and Roger loved it. He even asked for a copy.

To her, Ebert wasn’t just a trusted critic. He was a window to the world. Rahm reminded us that "life is too short not to be shared with others," and when Kathy approached Chaz during communion, she thanked her for sharing her husband with us. He was the most wonderful gift.

When the service ended, I wondered aloud whether the Westboro Baptist Church ever came out or if we had just missed them. Kathy and I laughed that a hate group would target a man known and beloved for his deliciously scathing reviews, sad that he couldn’t be around the comment. I asked her what Roger would have said about his hostile guests. She told me, “I don’t know, but if they came, I bet he would have loved it.”

Westboro never showed up, and we never get to laugh with Ebert in the face of hate. We'd never see what that face looked like or figure out what they were looking for — if they were like the rest of the funeral misfits searching for comfort or someone to share his life with. We wanted someone to listen to us or to cry with, realizing we'd never back get the thing we really wanted. Roger Ebert's stepdaughter, Sonia, told us that Ebert "realized that connecting with other people is the main reason we're here." And as Roeper carried his friend and companion away, that consolation of humanity was enough.

It's too bad Westboro missed Ebert's service. They could have learned something from him.

Nico Lang writes about LGBTQ issues in Chicago. You can find Nico on Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook.